The Flames Almost Rose to My Roman Nose

It seems like lately all I have been doing is putting out fires…mostly at work, mind you, but tonight it followed me home.

I was attempting to make pork chops in the toaster oven, and almost set my kitchen ablaze.

Now, before you go and gaffaw about my cooking abilities, I am going to arrogantly say that I have been told I am a decent cook (or so my husband says, and he was raised by the best cook I know – my mother-in-law…and he is brutally honest, so there you go). The cause of the blaze was due to using parchment paper instead of foil as a liner to the baking sheet, and a corner of it brushed against the hot element located on the roof of the oven, setting a tiny fire in my Proctor Silex just a couple of minutes after I had put the chops in. Thankfully, I was in the room preparing the baked potatoes when I caught a glimpse of an orange flame inside the toaster oven.

Surprisingly, I didn’t panic (which is not my M.O.). I calmly, but quickly grabbed the corner of the baking sheet with some tongs and dropped the whole thing in the sink. I moved the meat off the tray and placed it on a plate I had nearby as the flames extinguished. The pork chops were salvaged, by the way. I moved the whole operation to my main oven.

Them chops were delicious!

If one smoldering fire wasn’t enough for one evening, I found another fire burning a hole in my mailbox when I got home from work tonight…and no, it wasn’t a burning bag of crap. 😉 It was a big surprise, since my husband has been receiving parcels in the mail almost daily, and now I get one! Instantly, I could tell who it was from – the address written in black capitals, and an aroma of java wafting from the box. Aaron from KeepsMeAlive sent over a surprise parcel to me!…Totally unexpected…and totally came at a great time.

Inside was a card of Season’s Greetings from Aaron, along with a pound of Moonbean coffee (the man stopped in to his favourite coffee joint when he and Mike were in Toronto!). Not a stranger to Moonbean, Aaron has sent me their coffee before, each time a different type of brew. This time, the roast is called “Awakenings” and from its aroma, it smells like the kind of coffee that could kick my butt into high gear in the morning! No doubt, it will be highly praised by this coffee-lover!

Another surprise appeared with the coffee – a CD…Zappacosta’s “Quick!…Don’t Ask Questions…” I was surprised to see that! I have yet to listen to this album in its entirety, but no doubt it’s classic Zappacosta, with recognizable-to-me songs as “Letter Back” and “the Only One.” Considering I was asking for ANY Zappacosta on my grail list, this was quite a shock to receive, and it was in great condition, to boot!

One BIG THANK YOU to Aaron for sending this package along to me!! It was a big surprise to me that means so much! 🙂